Chad Bowers & Jim Towe Tell Us What To Expect From ‘Youngblood’

We’ve known for quite some time that Rob Liefeld‘s ‘Youngblood‘ will return to Image Comics under the creative hands of Chad Bowers & Jim Towe. These two have had some free time to share what we can expect from the new cast, mission, and where they could be heading. With the series having debuted twenty-five years ago, there is a fanbase and legacy that has to be appeased while at the same time telling a new story to a new generation of potential ‘Youngblood’ fans so let’s get a look at how the duo plans on pulling some of that off, shall we?

The book is going to show us a modern take on superheroes where if you need help you request it through an app. The app also lets you rank and request those who help you which can make some of the more famous heroes a little busy with some of those who aren’t, frustrated.

The inspiration of this new gang of heroes for “Youngblood’ #1 seems to be timely:

BOWERS: Oh man, yeah…”gang of heroes” is a pretty apt description of how these new kids operate. But we’re putting the “young” back in YOUNGBLOOD and setting up a kind of “us vs. them” dynamic between what’s left of the classic team and our new crew. Reintroducing the Extreme Universe through a fresh set of eyes really gives us an opportunity to reframe the world of YOUNGBLOOD, and maybe explore some of the more commonplace corners of the Extreme Universe rarely visited by dudes with names like Bloodwulf and Bootleg.

Help! is the latest and most popular trend in superheroics—a subscription-based self-protection app that lets users pick who they want to save them! Rob was so far ahead of the curve with the notion of celebrity superheroes, and it’s almost hard to remember a time when it wasn’t the norm. So YOUNGBLOOD’s always been about exploring that idea, and we’ve seen creators take it in some really thought-provoking directions over the years. With Help! as the catalyst for this first story arc, I feel like Jim, and I are doing our part to add to that same narrative!

This premise almost feels how the ‘Champions’ ended up splitting away from ‘The Avengers’ with the notion of the old vs. the new and the use of social media. However, anyone that knows ‘Youngblood’ can tell you that the stakes are likely to be a little higher as the book moves forward.

When talking about Rob Liefeld’s work on the books and what they were allowed to do with the characters he created, the duo stated:

BOWERS: Rob’s absolutely incredible, and from the jump, he’s given us carte blanche to do just about whatever we want with the series. As an old school YOUNGBLOOD fan, it took me a while to run with that, but with every issue, it gets a little easier to break his toys. Rob’s our biggest cheerleader, though, and probably the most encouraging dude I’ve ever worked with. He’s great! I heart the Rob!

TOWE: Rob’s the best! He’s been incredibly supportive of every crazy idea Chad, and I have come up with and has really pushed us to make this our vision of Youngblood. Having that amount of creative freedom with a band of established characters is pretty rare in the industry, and it’s so much fun to get lost in.

One of the more notable characters returning is Badrock though he looks as if he’s seen better days. Could this mean his end might be coming?

BOWERS: A lot’s changed since the last time we saw Badrock. He’s had a health scare or two in the past but always came out the other side rejuvenated or even better than he was before. Now he’s older, less confident about his chances, and thinking about that legacy, and as he comes to terms with his own mortality, he’ll be taking some risks and doing things the old Badrock never would.

As for killing him, I’ll only say this: sometimes dying’s not the worst thing that can happen.

It sounds like Bedrock is going to be one of many characters in for a rough time. I wonder how many of the originals they will touch upon that were still alive when the book closed last.

Are you looking forward to ‘Youngblood’ #1? What are you expecting the feel of the book to be like? Share your thoughts below!

Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!

Stuart Conover

Stuart Conover is a father, husband, blogger, published author, geek, entrepreneur, editor of Horror Tree, horror fanatic, science fiction junkie, lives in a world of comics, and a casual gamer (all of this when his wife lets him of course.) He fell in love with science fiction and horror at the same time while watching the movie Alien at probably far too young of an age while still being extremely impressionable and has been happily obsessed with both since! Around the same time he had also developed an unhealthy addiction to comic books that continues to this day!